Promotional Products Star in Pepsi's New Major Marketing Campaign

By Tom Higgins

With summer on its way, Pepsi is undertaking a huge marketing push in the hopes that the season will be a profitable one. In order to do so, the brand has partnered with country music star Dierks Bentley for its new “This Is the Pepsi” spot. The partnership is part of the brand’s revived Pepsi Stuff initiative, a loyalty reward program through which fans can get a variety of promotional products and prizes available via Pepsi’s summer collection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl3nnCzVkek

In addition to the spot, which is also an extension of Pepsi’s Generations campaign, the beverage brand is sponsoring Bentley’s 2018 Mountain High Tour as well as the artist’s Seven Peaks Music Festival that is set to take place in late August. These events should give the brand plenty of opportunities to take advantage of its partnership with Bentley, as well as to give away tons of branded merchandise and promotional products. And if that wasn't enough Pepsi is also sponsoring August’s CMA Fest in Nashville, a three-hour special that will air on ABC. Talk about ambition!

As for the merchandise involved, the Pepsi Stuff promotional initiative is offering a wide range of branded goods and prizes, including a floating beverage float, a foosball table, an acoustic guitar, a YETI cooler and a table top vending machine, as well as concert tickets and a chance to meet Dierks Bentley himself.

By tying the Pepsi Stuff campaign, a marketing initiative that focuses on nostalgia and vintage American popular culture, to a modern star like Dierks Bentley, Pepsi is likely hoping to reach out to fans of all generations, both those who can remember watching Cindy Crawford’s iconic 1992 Pepsi commercial and the growing number of millennials who show a significant interest in antique Americana.

Overall, the Generations campaign has been a huge success for Pepsi so far, with PepsiCo executives reporting in their Q1 2018 earnings call that they’ve seen both higher brand and ad recall. If things keep going according to plan, and the summer turns out to be as profitable as Pepsi hopes, it will allow the brand to put tremendous pressure on their main rival, Coca Cola. If that means more vintage-inspired marketing, then we’re happy to be along for the ride.